Outbound travelers in Nairobi bear the brunt of removed luggage racks

All is not well at Athusi.  The busy bus terminus squeezed on Ukwala Road in Nairobi is reeking with dejection. 

Piercing through the engines throbs of the 39-seater Isuzu FH matatus, the voices of bus conductors soliciting for travelers continue to dominate.

“Sultan, Emali, Makindu, Kibwezi, Kambu!” “Sultan, Emali, Makindu, Kibwezi, Kambu!”

But business is low. Bus conductors contend that it now takes longer to fill their buses.

“Following the directive by the government to remove these luggage racks, few people are travelling,” offered Mrefu, a seasoned bus conductor.

“But what do we do?” he quipped nonchalantly, pushing a pile of plastic chairs into one of the sets of seat on a Kibwezi-bound bus.

But hard hit in this antagonism are the travelers. Those carrying with them luggage to and from the city are now digging deeper into their pockets to make this happen.

“We are at a loss,” offered Ndunda Kiluva, a trader who regularly buys his commodities in Nairobi. “It now costs me 1000 shillings more to get these two boxes to my shop in Kiunduani.”

The directive to remove the luggage racks, according to Traffic Commandant Sammy Kimaru, is aimed at taming runaway road accidents.

Kimaru directed that for matatus to be allowed to carry both passengers and luggage, they should be fitted with load spaces rather than the carriers.

But in the meantime most matatus are engineered without sizeable load spaces. Consequently, travelers such as Kiluva have to pay for the extra seats where their luggage rests.

And travelers are not willing to entrust the ubiquitous courier trucks now filed alongside the buses on Ukwala Road with their luggage.

With the night travel ban on PSVs still biting, travelers have limited options. “When things turn this bad, I always turn to River Road,” offered Kiluva referring to picking Mombasa-bound buses that park along River Road and pass by his place.

 “But today, this option is locked. These buses go for travelers destined for Mombasa. With this directive, the government leaves us at the mercies of vehicle owners. Something should happen.”

Until something happens, business in Athusi will remain unusual.